Happy Memorial Day!!! (yes, this is actually the REAL and TRUE Memorial Day, and our first child’s birthday) We have some exciting news, and we wanted to be sure that we shared it with our loyal fans and friends first.

We will be closing Willamette Noodle Company on Saturday, June 16th at 10 pm. Before widespread panic sets in, please read the following:

The owners of Willamette Noodle Company are closing one chapter in downtown Salem’s dining repertoire – but with plans under way to open an exciting new dining experience in the same location. Willamette Noodle Company will close 10 p.m. on June 16, having served thousands of satisfied customers in nearly 10 years. However, owners Robert and Janet Henry are developing a new dining concept and restaurant in the same location, 380 High St., NE.

Details about the new concept will be unveiled at Battle Creek Liquor Outlet’s second anniversary celebration. “We have a wonderful relationship with BCLO, which has been very supportive of our efforts to provide the best selection of locally-produced spirits in town,” said Janet Henry, president of WNC. “The timing of their anniversary celebration and our re-launch was a win-win. We get to unveil our new venture to their clients, plus we get to introduce our fans to the best place in town to purchase the spirits we serve.” The event is open to the public and will be held 2-5 p.m., Saturday June 16 at the Liquor Outlet, 5107 Commercial St SE. The name of the new restaurant will be announced then, and Robert and Janet Henry will be on hand with tasty treats from the new menu. “We are both excited and a little sad about this decision, but it’s the right one for us at this time,” said Janet Henry. “We opened the original Willamette Noodle Company in June 2003 in a tiny building at the corner of Broadway and Hood and later moved to the downtown location. Now we see an opportunity to change our culinary offerings to appeal to a new and diverse market in Salem that appreciates local, fresh, seasonal food.”

Sara Downie has been named as general manager of the new business, bringing energy and passion for improving the customer experience. Sara worked in management for Starbucks for several years and most recently managed a locally-owned coffee company. “We are very pleased to have Sara on our team. Her ideas and leadership are already making a positive impact,” said Robert Henry, chef/owner. The company plans to keep the entire Willamette Noodle Company staff on as the changeover is made to the new restaurant. The new restaurant will feature local, seasonal and fresh ingredients, providing the culinary team a broad palette with which to experiment. In addition, the new establishment will include an expanded spirits selection, lounge area and interactive recreational area (with board games, cards, etc.).

We have grown and learned so much over the last 9 years, and we look forward to writing the next chapter of the down town dining scene with you all as contributing authors!

There’s been a lot of changes going on at WBC! We’ve had a lot of staffing changes, with some of our servers moving on to other opportunities and some fantastic new talent in the kitchen to work with Robert. Please be sure to say Hi to Amanda, Rachel, Ronan and – to everyone’s delight – Cait-er Tot is back with us on Saturday nights! We’re so happy to have her back on the team! The other exciting addition to our family is another tap handle for our local brews! We hope to add another one to the family by the end of the month so we’ll have four fantastic rotating brews from our local favorites! Please be sure to let us know if you see or taste something you’d like for us to bring in.

We’ve had a really busy few weeks, with the release (and unexpected flood of redemptions!) of our Groupon, however we expect that things are settling back down now, and apologize to anyone that got caught up in the Groupon Fever that hit us much harder than we expected (Groupon even contacted us to make sure everything was ok – we had over 20% redemption in the first 3 weeks! Craziness…)

And any one that’s visited us on a wet, slickery day knows that we’ve got a major challenge with the tiled floors… We’ve put down mats everywhere to minimize the chance of slips but please do watch your step while we work through our options to make it safer for everyone.

Be sure to check in with us on Facebook to see what fun things might be happening on a day by day basis, and of course feel free to contact us with your ideas – there’s been some discussion of a burger sandwiched between a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches…

Oh yeah… we went there. One of our hand spanked patties rests on top of a crispy potato pancake, topped with Tillamook Sharp cheddar cheese, bacon, a fried egg and then blanketed with a creamy gravy, a blend of bacon and ground beef (kind of like your favorite quilt Grandma made you…). As we said… socks optional. $10, and it comes with a handful of fries! That ringing you hear? It’s your alarm going off… Get up, get going and get your hands on one!